March 18, 2011

The Ministry of Commerce said it had ordered a "thorough" clean-up and inspection of the country's leading pork processor, Henan Shineway Group, and would step up monitoring of pork safety quality at slaughterhouses.

The closer scrutiny comes after government officials in Henan province this week shut down 16 pig farms and seized 134 tonnes of pork contaminated by the illegal slimming additive clenbuterol. 

The size of the seizure is small relative to China's total pork output of 50.7 million tonnes last year, but the government wants to set up a broader system of quality and safety supervision.

"The next step will be to establish supervision of practices at slaughterhouses and meat quality regulatory systems," the ministry said Wednesday (Mar 16).

Nineteen out of 689 hogs rounded up in the province tested positive to having the banned additive clenbuterol, according to a government report.

The city government is also investigating more than 1,300 pig farms and 130 feed and veterinary drug stores.

Fourteen people, including seven pig farm managers, six brokers and one purchaser for Jiyuan Shuanghui Food Co Ltd, the pork processor which allegedly bought the tainted pork, were in police custody. At least six officials and workers at local animal quarantine stations have been fired or suspended from duty, it said.

Farmers have been racing to add hogs to their livestock as China's hog supply has fallen in recent months, down 0.2% from the previous month to 444.1 million head in February, the China National Grain and Oil Information Centre said Thursday, citing data from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The broader decline in supply, which so far appears unrelated to the ongoing clenbuterol cases, has underpinned pork prices.

Average lean pork prices in 36 major cities rose to RMB27.34 (US$4.16)/kg this week, up 3.4% compared to the same period in January, official data showed Wednesday. While pork prices have not accelerated as quickly as some grains, they have been rising faster than comparable foods including beef and chicken.